August Artist Charles-Ryan

Posted on August 8, 2011

We are thrilled to have Athens photographer Charles-Ryan Barber displaying in our Gainesville location this month!

Series Explanation:

“California Summer Night Lights”

This was a simple experiment that turned itself into an art series during my travels in the summer of 2011. I was riding in the front seat of a car on the way back to West Hollywood from a surfing excursion in Malibu, California, when for no other reason that curiosity and a severe case of ADHD, I decided to see what the passing lights would look like if I spun my camera around and around during a long exposure. To my knowledge, I had never seen this done before, so i had only a vague guess of what sort of results I would end up with. The very first attempt was so amazing to me that I spent the rest of the ride playing with different settings and techniques to capture the ever-changing scene as it unfolded and streaked by. I later continued to experiment during an overnight stretch from Los Angeles to San Fransisco. All of the photographs in this piece are from either of those two nights. They were captured on my Canon 5D Mark II through an 80’s era manuel focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lens I have adapted to mount my camera. None of them has been cropped or altered in any way other than for basic exposure and color balance. Also, if you’re curious like me: the “perforated” lines are caused by alternating current (they’re stationary bulbs on the city power grid)- to the naked eye, they appear to be constant but are actually flickering imperceptibly fast – while the solid lines are usually running direct current ( this is what cars use). Due to an extremely high percentage of absolute black in the composition, these images make for tricky printing. I chose a borderless foam core for this display, but there are several other formats that will work nicely for this type of photo. I am happy to personally talk through all the options. Thank you for look at my work, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it.